March 16, 1995

Letter to the editor

Dear Editor:

In the letters to the editor (Gater, March 9), Richard Taylor states that Mumia Abu-Jamal is the victim of a "classic, southern-style" racist frame up.

While I am not disputing that the evidence leading to Mumia's conviction is suspect, I am curious about Taylor's phrase "southern-style".

A few facts I'd like to present:

1) All southerners are not racist, poor, uneducated, barefoot, or whatever the popular stereotype may be.

2) Conversely, southerners do not have a monopoly on racist behavior and thought. As Mumia is in prison in Pennsylvania, I fail to see what makes racist behavior of police there particularly "southern".

I don't wish to belittle the cause of Mumia Abu-Jamal, but as a recently transplanted southerner, I get angry when people use the terms "racist" and "southern" interchangeably, as I feel Mr. Taylor has done. Think of the outcry if he had used a phrase like "classic Chinese-style frameup!"

It is just as wrong to generalize about a group of people based on geography as it is race or religion.

The deep south as a whole may not be a paradigm for inter-racial harmony in the United States, but it's not fair to attach the adjective "southern" to any situation where racism is present. Which large border state recently passed a proposition denying services to illegal immigrants? Hint: it wasn't the deep-south state of Texas.

Lara Weigand

SF State Lecturer